By Lidia Qattan

ISpecial to the Arab Times

ncidentally, violence and bloodshed seems to have been the tragic lot of the Iraqi people from the time of the Assyrian militaristic empire, which was unique in the ancient world for its cruelty and barbarism ravaged Mesopotamia and neighboring countries. From the ashes of the Assyrian empire rose the Babylonian empire which, in turn, was overthrown by the Persians under Cyrus. After the Persians, came the Greeks, then the Romans, the Muslims, the Ottoman Turks and finally the British and French.

Each successive lord left its legacy of suffering on the people of Iraq until finally their country became independent in 1932. By then, millennia of subjugation molded their character and spirit; there is much anger, fear and diffidence in their heart, which can easily turn into violence and hate. They are a proud race, but their leaders have been subjugating them and abusing them, thereby wasting their potentials for greatness into negative energy.

As mentioned, the discovery of oil in Kuwait in February, 1938, made the Iraqi regime yet more eager to annex Kuwait. Its propagandistic campaign was quite successful in instigating young intellectuals against their own government; it also attracted the ambitious ones with promises of a lucrative business if Kuwait became an Iraqi port. In the fall of 1938, an element of discontent began fermenting in town. Sheikh Jaber Al